[Dark-Slicer Diago]

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Following a two-Dominator victory (which isn't reanimated, by the way), Lashley and Undertaker are shown backstage arguing (with full voice-over); just as Taker is about to do something crazy (involving lights and hand-raising), Benoit enters the mix and before you know it, all three guys are yelling at each other. As you might have guessed, the storytelling elements are much better this year and play out more like they do on television. For proof, just take that backstage stare-down into account, and the following in-ring trash talking that results in a Lashley vs. Benoit match the week after, and a cool stipulation match that allows the winner of a three-way dance to pick their main event at No Mercy.

After winning our match at No Mercy, Season Mode's whole purpose became much clearer -- it's how you unlock the game's hidden goodies. In this case, we gained access to the "Diva Package" in the WWE Shopzone and added a No Mercy trophy to our Locker Room. Of course, Season Mode is also a great place to earn money and experience points (which can be used to buy more stuff or upgrade created characters respectively).

On the subject of upgrades, General Manager Mode has received one this year too. A good portion of last year's features and guidelines are back, of course, and there's still a 20-wrestler limit per show, the ability to use existing or user-drafted rosters, a salary cap, the option to set contract lengths, so on and so forth. The interface, however, is all-new. Vince McMahon's greeting, for example, is now voiced over by Vince himself and is delivered via cell-phone instead of the stiff-looking menus of last year.

Setting up events on your calendar is as easy as can be too. Just hop right into "Schedule," select the day for your show on the interactive map, and book your event (up to six matches). Figuring out to book your matches is much easier as well, and this is tanks to a brand new tab system that allows you to navigate seamlessly between titleholders and other superstars. Each wrestler has a much more informative character card too -- morale, titled held, last title match, number of weeks not used, and even specialty match (it's Hell in the Cell for Undertaker, surprised?). This sort of setup is definitely good news for those of us who were into the mode last year, since we're no longer forced to keep hopping back and forth between menus to figure out how to get around.

Another nice touch is that users can now hire writers for their show to supplement their roster, and each one is good for about three storylines each. These storylines can be specific too -- for cruisers, divas, legends, or whatever. Just like in real life, the better your writer is, the better your storylines will be (and no, names like Russo or McMahon aren't on the list). This new story system (which uses a five-star system to show how valuable it is) is an invaluable tool for pushing rivalries forward and affects what kind of match popularity rivals can produce. What's extra cool about this is that up to four wrestlers can be involved in a rivalry at a time and you can actually set cut-off dates as to when that rivalry should end.

If you visit WWE.com on a regular basis, you're probably familiar with the "Power 25" (an ongoing ranking of WWE superstars that are ranked by wins, opponent quality, momentum, and in-ring dominance). That same list has now been incorporated into General Manager Mode as well, and can be used to help figure who your mid-carders and jobbers should be, who deserves a title shot, and who is doing well on a rival show (perhaps a trade is in order?).

Finally, General Manager Mode also includes the addition of Velocity and HEAT. Half the size of a RAW or SmackDown card, these sideshows are used to build up superstar popularity independent of your day-to-day operations of the main programs. Ideally, this is a good place to put your created characters -- guys who start out at the bottom of the ladder every time -- and it won't cost you any rating points to do so. Don't expect to use many other superstars for HEAT and Velocity, though; once a character hits a popularity rating of 70, they're too big to headline it.

As with most wrestling games, there's still plenty to explore in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, but most of it lays in the details. What moves are reanimated, what tweaks have been made here and there, and how is create-a-wrestler looking? Good questions, all of them, but they're meant to be answered on another day (following considerably more play time). Hoo-Rah!

credit - Jeremy Dunham, ps2.ign.com

note: I have no idea why he said that idiot Miz' qoute